What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Antoine Marchand]

Which Jen?

Jen Lindley from Dawson's Creek, I loved that girl and that TV show. 

[Sergeant Rock]

Earlier this afternoon I finally listened to Kang's Elgar:




And now, in celebration of Nielsen's birthday, the Sixth Symphony:




Sarge

[bhodges]

Watch out for that orchestra!

Alfred Schnittke
Cello Concerto No. 1
David Geringas|NDR Sinfonieorchester|Christoph von Dohnányi

14 September 2008
Leiszhalle, Hamburg



A nice synopsis of the work at allmusic.com:

A monumental endeavor for huge orchestra, in four movements and lasting some 40 minutes, the concerto was written for Schnittke's close friend, Russian cellist Natalia Gutman; the solo part is indeed feverish, and exhausts the performer both technically and emotionally. The work in general -- at least in its first three movements -- largely adheres to Schnittke's concerto-archetype of "I-against-the-World" (as scholar Richard Taruskin writes); the soloist ever-seeks to weave a sincere, plangent melos, to sing and weep its uninterrupted fill, and perpetually suffers both the mockery and raw violence of the orchestra. Thus the first movement founds its vast sonata-form around the conflict of soliloquy vs. blitzkrieg; the following Adagio resurrects the soloist into ephemeral lyrical fabric which is eventually stretched and torn; and the brief and bitter third movement casts the cello through a gauntlet of hopelessly fated march-pastiches and mock-heroics before obliterating itself altogether.

But then, in an uncharacteristic step, another movement follows, a broad and sweeping hymn which actually appears to transcend the brutal ruckus before it, for an almost celestial vision of fortitude. And here, impoverished by emergency, that site where the composer must stand in order to plunge into the quagmire of his mind is forced to speak itself. It is an optimism that is all the more wrenching for being so potently repressed elsewhere -- but, in its awesome fidelity to the unlikely and the graced, it is an optimism nonetheless. Schnittke himself attests to the sense of miraculous: "Suddenly I was given this finale from somewhere, and I've just written it down."

Thanks for posting that gem of a description, Navneeth.  Haven't heard the piece in quite awhile, but recall liking it a lot (as I do most of Schnittke's work).  Great quote in that last sentence, too.

--Bruce

[Bogey]

[Renfield]

Symphony No. 9

(I sampled key bits of the 8th to my satisfaction and skipped it for now, as I need to sit down with the text to 'properly' assess it.)

[not edward]

A first listen to these:



Rather impressed...I don't always click with Arnold's music but these seem to be him on fine form to me.

[listener]

lp
early MESSIAEN played by a young Pierre-Laurent Amard:
Les Préludes   and  2 mvts from Regard sur l'enfant Jesu  (nos. 6 & 15)
BRUHNS The 4 Preludes & Fugues, Nun komm der Heiden Heiland
and pieces by BRUNCKHORST, LEYDING, KNELLER    "muscular" music in the Buxtehude north German style
Marie-Claire Alain at Viborg Cathedral, Marcussen organ   
LUTOSLAWSKI    Little Suite, Die Strohkette, 5 Dance Preludes, Trauermusik, Overture for String Orch.
Berlin Symphony, Arthur Grüber cond.     +  Hamburg S.O. for the Trauermusik
GADE  Aquarelles       SINDING 6 piano pieces, not including Rustle of Spring
Adrian Ruiz, piano     sandpaper-like sounds due to over-modulation are irritating
The cover reproduces the musical puzzle by which Gade's name can be written by a single note and four clefs, a discovery made bv Schumann.

[Opus106]

Naxos is going to hear from the Cello Rights Activists.

[Antoine Marchand]

Beautiful performances of the two sonatas for viola and the trio for piano, viola and cello.

Now here:



Few days ago, I was listening to those versions of the viola sonatas on Brilliant (by Nobuko Imai and Roger Vignoles, apparently licensed from Chandos); maybe even better than those on Hyperion.

Anyway, great music. 

[jlaurson]

Now here:


Jo Brahms
Complete Chamber Music

Few days ago, I was listening to those versions of the viola sonatas on Brilliant (by Nobuko Imai and Roger Vignoles, apparently licensed from Chandos); maybe even better than those on Hyperion. Anyway, great music. 

Great set, indeed: http://www.weta.org/fmblog/?p=422

Thread duty:


J.S. Bach
Sonatas for violin and keyboard obbligato
Florence Malgoire
Blandine Rannou
ZigZag

[Lethevich]

The hilariously titled Legend of the Smoke from Potato Fires is nifty. This whole disc in fact is a winner, despite the obscurity of the works in question. I had misgivings initially, as I am used to 20th century cantatas being quite academic and pointless works (see Nielsen's ones composed commissioned for things like plumber's unions, not that I have heard them) - but these three are quite sweet.

[Franco]

Brahms: String Quartet in A minor, Op. 51, #2
Emerson Quartet

[PaulR]

There is something about Vasks music that I really like, though I don't think I can properly explain it.  But I really like his music.

[Antoine Marchand]

Alan Hacker [pair of Albert clarinets in cocus wood, 2nd half of 19th Century, 13 keys without patent C sharp)
Jennifer Ward Clarcke [cello by Joseph Guarnenius (sic) filius Andrea of Cremona, 1729]
Richard Burnett [pianoforte by Erard, London, 1866]
Recorded at Finchcocks, Goudhurst, Kent April 1989
Amon Ra Records

Jennifer Ward Clarke uses her "Modern" 1729 cello but with mainly gut strings.

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD1 from this set from my baroque collection ...

[Antoine Marchand]

Johann Sebastian Bach - Inventions, Sinfonias and Duets, BWV 772-805
Jaroslav Tůma [clavichord by J. Ch. G. Schiedmayer (1789), Collection of the Žatec Regional Museum, Restored by František Vyhnálek, Hovorčovice (1996), Range: F1 - f3, Pitch: a = 415 Hz, Temperament: Kirnberger III]
Recorded at the Roštejn castle, September 1996
TT: 71:06
Made in Czech Republic
Classics Arta, 1997

ARTA

[Philoctetes]

Wang playing Scriabin

[Scarpia]

There is something about Vasks music that I really like, though I don't think I can properly explain it.  But I really like his music.

I don't like it, and likewise can't explain it.  Checking my records, I bought this recording and sold it about 2 weeks later after one failed attempt to listen to it.   

[listener]

mono LP's   
J.S. BACH   The Art of Fugue     Helmut Walcha, St. Laurenskerk, Alkmaar
recorded in Sept. 1956
This started off well, then appeared to be much deeper and complex than I had ever remembered, until I realized that DGG had mislabeled the discs!    We had skipped side 2 and gone on to 3 & 4 with a side remaining to be played.    The labels and the ID markings on the disc are both confused.
I had bought this used recently, and it look as if it had never been played, very very fine surface condition, and there was no notation in the box of the label error. 
The accompanying booklet has good notes on the work and the organ, with large semi-glossy pictures tipped in.
LIADOV Baba Yaga,  The Enchanted Lake,  Kiki Mora,  8 Russian FolkSongs;  BALAKIREV orchestrated by CASELLA: Islamey
Bamberg Symphony,  Jonel Perlea      recording from 1957  - much better than I had expected, with good atmosphere throughout.   There's another orchestration of Islamey by Liapounov that I think is on a CBC CD, both orchestrations were published together by Muzyka Leningrad in 1982.
Havergal BRIAN   Symphonies  18, 19, 22
not the "Wales Symphony O., Colin Wilson" 18 might be New Philharmonia O., Bryan Fairfax, 19- BBC Scottish O., John Canarina,  22 - Royal Philharmonic O., Myer Fredman.    I've got another recording of 22 (Leicester Schools' Symphony O., will dig it out and double check for duplication)
and some SIBELIUS piano music, the Sonataines op. 67, Rondinos op, 68, 3 pieces op. 34, 5 piece op. 75     Izumi Tateno, pianist     These aren't big concert hall pieces like Liszt's, and they are played in a more intimate, quiet style - very, very, nice.

[Lethevich]

I don't like it, and likewise can't explain it.  Checking my records, I bought this recording and sold it about 2 weeks later after one failed attempt to listen to it.   

I hated Vasks at first but did a u-turn some time later. It was interesting because a composer's music rarely outright annoys me (unless it's post-modern "eclectic" styled). Odd that such straight-forward and appealing music can bug us